Next Saturday in San Antonio will mark the first time four number one seeds will do an on-court two-step in the Final Four. UCLA-Memphis, Kansas-North Carolina will be the matchups.

Saturday, UCLA Boa Constrictor-ed Xavier, 76-57. The Bruins choked off most forays to the basket and in the process made 5′7″ Musketeer point guard Drew Lavender look like a 4′7″ Mouseketeer. Each time Lavender drove through the lane he would vanish like a UFO abductee. He would disappear; the ball would be spit out to the wing minus the point guard, and the next time Lavender would be seen was a time leap later chasing down UCLA’s Darren Collison on the defensive end of the floor.

Kevin Love was simply dominant on both ends of the floor while Russell Westbrook shot 7-11 from the floor. Throw in Luc Mbah a Moute’s 13-point 13 rebound performance and Collison’s 19 points and the defensive job he did on Xavier’s catalyst, Lavender, and UCLA barely missed Josh Shipp’s dismal 1-7 from the floor disaster of a game.

Earlier in the day UNC held off Louisville, 83-73. The Tar Heels controlled all but about seven minutes of the game. Though the Cardinals, aided by three turnovers by Tyler Hansbrough, tied the game at 59 in that time period, Hansbrough did more than redeem himself by hitting clutch shot after clutch shot. Package Hansbrough’s play with point guard’s Ty Lawson key three-pointer to push a four point lead to seven and UNC eased away with a win.

Had North Carolina’s defense not been MIA for long stretches of the game and had they made even two more three-point field goals (they were 3-11 from behind the arc), this game would have been a complete blowout. Louisville shot 52.7% from the field - and for the most part we’re not talking contested shots here.

As it was, even with 3-11 three-point crooked shooting and Wayne Ellington’s mediocre 5-14 night, the Tar Heels still shot 53.4% from the floor.

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Sunday, it was thought that Texas would use a Houston almost-home town advantage to move on even closer to home - San Antonio - with a Regional Finals win over Memphis. But John Calipari unleashed his “Princeton on steroids” offense with his grip of NBA-to-be players on the Longhorns, and the game that was to be a titanic struggle wasn’t much of a game - 85-67 - at all.

Freshman point guard Derrick Rose played second fiddle to teammate Chris Douglas-Roberts all season. But in the tournament Rose showed exactly why he’s one-and-done by averaging 20.3 points (55% shooting) and six assists a game to snatch the headlines and the South Region’s MOP from Douglas-Roberts.

Rose totally shut down heralded Texas point guard, D.J. Augustin (4-18 for 16 points), while scoring 21 points on 7-10 shooting and dropping nine dimes on a clearly shocked and dismayed Augustin and his teammates. Douglas-Roberts, with 25 points, was the primary recipient of Rose’s largesse. Douglas-Roberts and Rose outscored Augustin and fellow guard A.J. Abrams 46-33.

Inside, the Tigers were equally dominant. Joey Dorsey and Shaun Taggart, who played only 18 minutes, combined for 23 points and 15 rebounds (Dorsey had 12 of those boards).

What was most interesting about this blowout was how much bigger the Tigers compared with the Longhorns. The Memphis players resembled professionals led by their 6′5″ 215 pound point guard (yes, it is said that Rose has grown from his 6′3″ 205 pound beginning of the year height and weight). Every Tiger seemed to dwarf their opposite number, if not in height, then in build.

And they played bigger against Texas in every way.

The final game of the Elite Eight, Kansas vs. Davidson, was slotted to be the most lopsided. It turned out to be the closest. Bob McKillop knew his Wildcats could not play their normal up-tempo style and keep up with the bigger, faster, stronger Jayhawks, so he slowed the games pace to a trot.

Throughout the game this change in game plan appeared to thoroughly befuddle Bill Self and his Kansas team. Each time Kansas pushed the tempo, Davidson would slow the game back down and run scoring savant Stephen Curry off of a seemingly indeterminable number of screens and other players on pick-and-pop plays in search of the best shot possible.

And if the Jayhawks were not so committed to stopping Curry, so committed to and able to switch defenders on screens, Kansas would have lost this 59-57 game.

McKillop needs to be duly lauded for recognizing that his team needed to minimize the number of Kansas possessions. His team needs to be equally lauded for their ability to execute his strategy.

The Jayhawks were never in rhythm, never able to run, and rarely able to get off shots in the normal flow of their offense.

The game got so ugly that it allowed the most unlikely Jayhawk to be one of Kansas’ most valuable players - Sasha Kaun. The ungainly center was a perfect 6-6 from the floor and made many of the game’s key hustle plays, procuring loose balls and tipped rebounds for his team.

With defense as the Jayhawks’ calling card, Kansas harassed and harried Stephen Curry with a four-man rotation that, by game’s end wore down the slight 6′3″ shooting guard. Curry ended the night scoring 25 hard-earned points on only 9-25 shooting.

And despite McKillop’s brilliant game-slowing strategy he cracked in the end. With just under 15 seconds remaining in the game the Davidson coach took the ball out of the hands of Jason Richards, his senior point guard who had done damage to the Kansas defense with his ball-handling and ability to get to any point on the floor with his dribble and let Curry handle the ball. The sophomore ran into a double-team and ended his season, not with the ball in his hands for the potential game-winning shot, but watching Richards toss up a hurried 30-foot off jumper that was far off the mark.

It makes sense that Curry will return to Davidson for his junior season. He will switch to point guard because he knows that is the position he will have to play to get drafted by an NBA team.

He could have used some added ball-handling skills on that last, ill-conceived play.

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So, we end where we began the selection process. The four number one seeds were announced first by the selection committee. And the four number one seeds will end the 2007-08 NCAA Men’s Basketball season.

UCLA will play Memphis in game one, followed by the battle of Roy Williams versus Roy Williams as his North Carolina team will face his former Kansas team now coached by Bill Self.

Though Ben Howland will have his Bruins attempting to make this a grimy, Big East-style game (Howland previously was the head coach at Pittsburgh), his team will be hard-pressed to defend the Tigers. In the tournament, Western Kentucky’s players had the ability to take the UCLA defenders off the dribble, penetrate into the lane and kick out to the wings for open three-pointers. Once the Hilltoppers relaxed, this style presented the Bruins with matchup difficulties. Darren Collison fouled out with five minutes remaining in the game and shot only 1-6, scoring four points. The game plan will be repeated, but much more proficiently be Memphis.

Howland cannot allow the Tigers to dictate tempo or UCLA will be lost. Knowing that center Joey Dorsey presents singular problems for Kevin Love, the Bruins can be expected to go inside early and hope Love can use his array of low post moves to get Dorsey into early foul trouble. Though Memphis has adequate backups for Dorsey, none have his strength of Dorsey and will have difficulty guarding Love on the low block. This will also allow Darren Collison, the times he does get by Derrick Rose, to have a much clearer path to the basket.

Also, between now and next Saturday, Josh Shipp (8-27 the last four games) must find his shooting stroke if the Bruins are to be successful. Working inside out might be the plan but hitting outside shot will make the interior a much friendlier place for Love and UCLA.

If Dorsey stays out of foul trouble, Memphis will win this game almost as easily as they did their regional final. However, should Love get the best of Dorsey, particularly early in the game, UCLA will advance to the championship game.

In the second game, I will make the bold prediction that North Carolina will run away with their game against Kansas. Because they let Louisville back into a game that should have been a wood shedding, the Tar Heels should have learned the value of defense enough to take advantage of their depth and ability to play at an even faster pace that Kansas.

Additionally, Tyler Hansbrough will absolutely wreck Sasha Kaun, who is a reminder of times gone by - a less athletic Rony Seikaly.

With Hansbrough having a field day against Kaun and Ty Lawson wrecking whoever guards him, North Carolina should win by double digits. Afterward, Roy Williams can cry — all the way to the championship game Monday night, where his Tar Heel team will face Memphis.

And the winner will be?

As a guy named Bill said long, long ago, “What’s in a name? That which we call a Rose.”

Photo Credit: ICON SMI